Get valuable insight into the development of the art direction of Anchors Deep!
General
We kept the realistic art style from the original demo, Fishermen Will Cry, to set off the seriousness of the mission. At the same time, we recognize the game’s humorous side: the over-the-top combat, deaths, and narrative world. To incorporate both aspects, we decided to go for a comic-like art direction. We want the players to feel like they are reading a comic, following a hero’s journey, experiencing both the blood-pumping and waggish moments.
The Environment
The game is set in an overwater fishing town in an almost modern to near-future time. We envision TSC using this town for both fishing and cargo dispatching/transportation, so there are a group of fishermen living in the town. We designed four levels into four different environments, different but all echo the theme of a fishing town. The tutorial level is made up of fishing docks, crates, and ships. Level one is a small shopping and activity center; we added tables, chairs, and stores to create a space where the fishermen would hang out. Moving forward, level three is the warehouse/living area. There are many crates and containers. There are also more proper light posts and lamps to serve the fishermen. The final arena is a testing ground for TSC’s new tech. It is messy, unfinished, and piled with containers and houses.
All the houses, shops, and sheds look like the ones in the real world. While the majority of the town looks like modern times, the powerful echolocation technology TSC possesses an exaggerated and slightly futuristic look. We designed a fountain-like structure with a huge hook on top. The hook reflects the theme of this town and the company. The exaggerated design also echoes the comic-like, humorous art direction we are going for.
To further bring the world to life, we added many TSC logos and shopping signs around the levels. The logos reinforce that the company controls this town. The signs of various stores–clothing, restaurants, salons, etc.–make the world more lively and believable: the fishermen are actually living life here.
Because of time constraints, we choose to use existing character models. For the fishermen's enemies, we picked different fishermen's looks for the sailor and sniper enemies. For the Special Forces and Watchmen, we chose an especially tough-looking model and made his model much bigger than the others. We used a hammer shark-like humanoid model for the Fish Guardian to make them look menacing. For the other fish, we resorted to simpler, more fish-like models to offset the Fish Guardian’s power.
UI
We designed the UI to be in line with the comic-like art direction. The font and texture are a little cartoonish, but they also have enough details to be cohesive with the rest of the game. The barnacles and wooden board-like background for the health bar and buttons echo the fishing town/ocean theme.
The logo for the game, again, uses comic-like fonts and outlines. The anchor, wooden board, and rope reflect the background and gameplay of the game. The splash of blood foretells the intense battles players will be experiencing.
Comic Panels
What will be more comic-like than comic panels themselves? To fully embrace our art direction, we used comic panels for the prologues, interludes, and epilogues instead of traditional cutscenes. The art style is inspired by the comic books with bold outlines, speech bubbles, and comic-sans font. These comic panels introduce the characters and our hero’s mission. They lead players into the world we want to create.
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